Arizona Coyotes Fall Short In Chicago, 6-3

The Arizona Coyotes traveled to Chicago to face the Blackhawks and the results were not all that great for Mike Smith or his teammates.

Thursday night was one of those nights for the Arizona Coyotes.

They scored a few goals but piled up the turnovers and mistakes, and to top it off goaltender Mike Smith wasn’t quite up to snuff.

The effort was there on the Arizona end, the boys just weren’t quite there execution wise.

Jakob Chychrun did nab a nifty goal, however.

The goal was Chych’s second in as many games, showing he might be having the same kind of awakening that Christian Dvorak has also had late in the season.

There weren’t a whole lot of individual bright spots beyond that, however. This was the kind of game where Coyotes fans had to settle for the fact that they can see the growth on their TV screens, even though the mistakes were often front and center.

Patrick Kane scored a hat trick and Corey Crawford made the saves Smitty couldn’t to give the Hawks a 6-3 win.

Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game

Perhaps it’s not the consensus pick, but Alex Burmistrov had a decent game offensively after falling off a cliff for a weeks.

Related Story: Grading Alex Burmistrov's First 15 Games As A Coyote

Drew Walters wrote about Burmistrov’s decline after his hot start here in the desert, noting in particular how poor Burmi was in possession. He was finally above 50% CF tonight (51.72% CF), and his two assists were good to see.

The View From The 200 Level

Growth.

Arizona Coyotes fans have wanted to see it all season and we have finally been getting it in recent weeks. Tonight’s game was no different, warts and all.

More from Howlin' Hockey

• How the Arizona Coyotes could line-up with Logan Cooley signed
• Report: Logan Cooley could be closer to signing Arizona Coyotes ELC
• Arizona Coyotes sign Matias Maccelli to three-year deal
• Ivan Prosvetov signs one-year deal with Arizona Coyotes
• Arizona Coyotes cut Galchenyuk after reported police incident

With growth comes new expectations, however, and now we get to enjoy seeing if the rookies and young stars will be able to keep leveling up their game through the end of the season and heading into next year.

I don’t know that there’s a lot to really draw from the Blackhawks game other than a mite of concern about Mike Smith.

Smitty has shouldered quite the workload since returning from injury earlier in the season.

Since Smith’s return on November 16th, Louis Domingue has only saw action in 10 games for Dave Tippett’s group. A couple of those weren’t even starts. The lack of playing time has shown in Domingue’s play and one could argue the amount of games is showing up in Smitty’s play as well as he has become less consistent in recent weeks.

Even throwing consistency aside, it’s worth noting that the Yotes are second to last in the NHL and are not in any do-or-die situation when it comes to wins.

Next: Is Jordan Martinook The Coyotes Most Effective Forward?

More playing time for Domingue is good to keep Smith healthy, and it’s also good for Domingue’s confidence heading into next year when the team will hope to be more competitive.

Either way, Domingue will get another shot tomorrow night as the Arizona Coyotes take on the Dallas Stars.